Be wary of the day-to-day noise, and focus on the long term and big picture.

Gen. Omar Bradley

"It is time that we steered by the stars, not by the lights of each passing ship."

There's a lot of noise when it comes to the markets — whether the daily chatter of Finance Twitter, the talking heads on business television, or the high-frequency sell-side research notes. But that doesn't mean you have to listen to all the hysteria. And as Benjamin Graham noted, "It is absurd to think that the general public can ever make money out of market forecasts."

Take the time to do your homework.

Major Gen. George S. Patton and Rear Adm. H. Kent Hewitt aboard of USS Augusta in North Africa in 1942.Wikimedia

Gen. George S. Patton

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."

"We're all just guessing, but some of us have fancier math," Josh Brown once tweeted. As Peter Lynch noted, however, "investing without research is like playing stud poker and never looking at the cards."

Use your brain.

Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis

"The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears."

Your brain can be the source of your downfall thanks to emotions like fear and greed. Nevertheless, your brain is your greatest asset as an investor if you use it well. As Howard Marks wrote: "Smart investing doesn't consist of buying good assets, but of buying assets well. This is a very, very important distinction that very, very few people understand."

Don't get too comfortable with your models and equations.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity."

There's no absolute foolproof equation in life — and there's definitely no absolute foolproof equation in investing. As Barton Biggs wrote, "quantitatively based solutions and asset allocation equations invariably fail as they are designed to capture what would have worked in the previous cycle whereas the next one remains a riddle wrapped in an enigma."

Be greedy when others are fearful.

Napoleon

"Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest."

As most investors know, one of Warren Buffett's best-known nuggets of wisdom is that investors should aim to "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful." Emotions like fear force people to make bad decisions, which presents opportunities.

Know whom and what you are investing in.

Sun Tzu

Businesses you are investing in aren't "thy enemy," per se. It's important, however, to know the philosophy and personalities of the company's founders, who is running it, and the ambitions and plans of the people building its future, according to Thomas Rowe Price Jr.

Don't forget to read and use history.

Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis

"The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men's experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others' experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men ... Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face NOTHING new under the sun."

Investment professional Ken Fisher also advocated using history "as one tool for shaping reasonable probabilities." (Within reason.)

"The man who can do the average thing when all those around him are going crazy"

Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

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